Orion Leads the Next Investment Management Revolution with Powerful
Direct-Indexing Service

ASTRO, a new direct-indexing tool from Orion, brings advisors the
ability to automate portfolio construction to efficiently accommodate
legacy stock positions and ESG requests from clients

January 29, 2018 10:00 AM Eastern Standard Time

OMAHA, Neb.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Orion
Advisor Services, LLC ("Orion"), the premier portfolio accounting
service provider for advisors, today announced that its direct-indexing
tool for Advisor Strategy and Tax Return Optimization (“ASTRO”) will
become available to all financial advisors on the Orion platform on
March 1, 2018.

With ASTRO, advisors can create customized, separately managed account
(SMA) portfolios for all of their clients, faster and with less expense
than ever. Advisors can build tax-efficient non-qualified accounts,
replicate indexes with customized tilts, incorporate legacy stock
positions into model portfolios, accommodate environmental, social, and
governance (ESG) requests, and receive notifications when an account is
out of tolerance, all with built in automated tax-loss harvesting.

“Until now, the high costs and massive time commitment associated with
building highly customized separately managed accounts prevented
financial advisors from bringing these capabilities to clients,” said
Eric Clarke, CEO of Orion. “The powerful technology fueling ASTRO
empowers advisors to accomplish all of the above in minutes at a
fraction of the cost.”

ASTRO’s intuitive interface and proposal capabilities are extended to
advisors via Orion’s Insight App, making this capability accessible
through CRM integration partners Salesforce and Redtail. ASTRO also lets
advisors view the risk and diversification characteristics of the
optimized portfolio relative to the advisor’s benchmark replication
portfolio.

“This optimization technology provides substantial efficiencies in an
area that often demands too much manual effort. In order to do the heavy
lifting on an individual account basis, advisors need a powerful engine
that is typically only available in the institutional setting and at a
much higher price point,” said Joe Smith, CFA, Senior Market Strategist
for Orion client CLS Investments. “We see this direct indexing
technology as leveling the playing field between advisors and the large
asset managers.”

“As investment management continues to become increasingly commoditized
by robo advisors and low-cost products like ETFs and index funds,
advisors must find new ways to demonstrate their value to increasingly
savvy investors,” Clarke said. “ASTRO provides advisors with the edge
they need at a disruptive price point.”

On top of the clear value this tool adds to the end investor, ASTRO also
delivers several practice management benefits to the advisor:

Scalability: The powerful technology behind ASTRO’s algorithms,
its intuitive user interface, and superior workflow allow advisors to
run customized and optimized portfolios for all of their clients, thus
increasing practice efficiency and capacity.

Growth: Advisors can use ASTRO as a differentiator and
prospecting tool by creating customized model portfolios for
prospective clients based on their preferences and existing legacy
positions in a fraction of the cost and time each previously demanded.
The efficiencies created by ASTRO will also increase when used with
Eclipse, Orion’s integrated, fully-customizable trading and
rebalancing platform.

Cost Savings: The cost savings created by ASTRO can be passed
on to the client or absorbed by the advisor to boost profitability.

“Orion’s technology plays a central role, as our advisors continue to
attract and serve the increasing demand of their high-net-worth
investors,” said Scott Kubie, Chief Investment Officer of Carson Group.
“ASTRO puts us in a position to manage taxes and risk more effectively
in a fraction of the time. It’s an impactful benefit, both for our
Carson Group Partner firms and, ultimately their clients, because it
gives them the opportunity to better integrate low-cost positions into
the portfolio.”

“At Orion, we’re all about making the lives of financial advisors easier
by creating efficiencies in their day-to-day operations,” Clarke said.
“Our technology represents a huge step forward for our industry, and I’m
excited to see the potential this will unleash for our advisors and
their clients.”

Orion Advisor Services, LLC (Orion) is the premier portfolio accounting
service provider for advisors. Our firm has unique insights into the
advisory profession because it was founded for investment advisors by an
investment advisor in 1999. Orion frees advisors from back-office tedium
so they can enjoy their business again by devoting their time and energy
to better serving clients. Orion provides the integrated and fully
customizable technology solutions that advisors need to help grow their
businesses over the long term. The firm's technology solutions empower
more than 1,300 firms, have $600+ billion in AUA and over 2 million
accounts. For more, please visit www.orionadvisor.com
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